Advice
by rkfollower
Summary: Troy faced a lot of problems during the three movies. Have you ever wondered who helped him through it? TroyxKelsi three-shot. One for each movie. Mentions of TxG RxK
1. Chapter 1

This idea has been bothering my mind since I saw HSM3. I really loved the Trelsi friendship scenes there and this gave me the inspiration for this. Well, I hope you like this one. This is set during the first movie.

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Troy Bolton wandered aimlessly through the white corridors of East High. The past two weeks of his life has been full of ups and downs and he didn't know he could handle all the pressure that has been put on him.

Troy, for the first time in his life, was scared. And to make things worse, he didn't have anybody to turn to ask for help.

He can't go to his father, because his advice would always be biased towards basketball. Also, he was still pissed off with the way he acted towards Gabriella at the gym just a few days ago.

Likewise, talking to his basketball "chums" didn't sound so inviting either. It was true that they were man enough to admit to him that they, along with the scholastic decathlon team, were the cause of Gabriella's sudden change towards him, but he was still not sure if he could trust them the way he used to.

So there he was, standing alone in the middle of the halls, forced to face his problems all by himself. He was hoping that one way or another he could fix this crazy mess called his life.

His aimless wandering led him to the school's music room, where he heard a familiar tune being played on the piano. He entered the room as quietly as he could possibly can; he then saw the source of the music sitting behind the big instrument. It was the girl he recently dubbed as the playmaker, singing along the song he now recognized as _What I've Been Looking For,_ the song that got him into the callbacks.

"Wow! You sound great, Kelsi! I didn't know you had such a beautiful voice." Troy commented after the composer finished the song.

The petite girl jumped with surprise, only realizing now that she wasn't alone in the room. There were just moments like this that the whole world seized to exist except for her and her instrument.

"Th-thanks, Troy…" she replied modestly, slightly blushing because of the compliment. "Did you want to rehearse? Where's Gabriella?"

"Uhm, Actually, Gabby and I, uhm, I don't think we would be able to do the callbacks anymore."

Kelsi's face fell. "But why? What happened? I though everything was fine."

"So did I, but Gabriella told me that she didn't want to do it anymore. My friends and her friends set us up so she thinks that I didn't want to do the callbacks anymore."

"So you still want to do the callbacks?"

"Yes, but not without Gabriella. I need to tell her the truth but I can't because she won't even talk to me."

Not knowing exactly how to respond, Kelsi only nodded her head.

And Troy, without thinking about who he was talking about, continued to ramble about his problems, from his Dad pressuring him about basketball, his teammates plotting against his and him feeling betrayed about it, to the stupid status quo that has always controlled the way he and the other students acted. He didn't know why, but he felt comfortable there, just releasing all his pent up emotions to Kelsi, a girl he didn't even talk to up until now.

Troy finally stopped his rambling and cuing Kelsi to give him the pep talk that he needed.

"Troy, I can't exactly tell you that I know how you feel, because honestly, I've never been under such pressure before. But what I do know is that you are a strong guy, carrying the whole school on your shoulders in just you 3rd year tells something about you. And I honestly believe that you can overcome all this hurdles in front of you. You should just take one thing at a time; you don't need to rush things by trying to fix them all at once. But before you start fixing this so called mess, I think you should make one important decision."

"About?" Troy could help himself to ask.

"Status quo. You complain to me that you hate it, but you succumb to it just like the rest of us. You have to decide, are you going to fight it or follow it until you leave this school. Because if you haven't noticed it yet, status quo is the source of all your problems and unless you are ready to defy it you won't be able to fix anything. Start there and the rest will follow."

Troy stared at Kelsi, amazed with what she just said. He knows she was right and he knew exactly what he needed to do know. "Wow...Thanks Kels. I didn't know you could be that deep and expressive."

"Well, it helps when I write songs. I need to be deep so I can dig up inspirations."

"Oh…" said a still amazed Troy. "I know this is going to sound so random but I just wanted to ask you what inspired you to write the musical."

"Well, I… I kinda wrote it about this guy I really like. He's so near yet so far, you know. I mean, he does know that I exist but chooses to ignore me because we are worlds apart. And this, this story is what I hope will be our story."

"Like me and Gabby…" Troy added and Kelsi only nodded.

Seeing the sadness in the small girl's eyes, it was his turn to cheer her up. "Hey, for what it's worth, I think he's a total idiot for not noticing you."

Kelsi smiled at his effort to make her feel better. "Thanks, Troy."

Troy smiled back before looking outside the window. He notices that it was getting dark, he look at his wrist but no watch was present on it. He then placed his attention to the clock inside the room which read 6 o'clock.

Troy suddenly spoke. "It's getting late. I know it only 6 but I didn't tell my parents I was going to be out. I need to go home."

Kelsi turned her attention from Troy to the clock."Whoa, I should have been home an hour ago. My parents are so going to kill me. I was supposed to baby sit my brother."

The two teens quickly left the room and headed towards the school's exit, talking about how Troy could get Gabriella to listen to him.

Finally, reaching the outside, Kelsi turned to Troy and spoke. "Well, I'm going this way. I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with the whole Gabriella thing. "

"Thanks, Kels, for everything." Troy replied. " Good luck to you and your mystery man as well. "

Kelsi laughed at his comment and he joined her shortly.

The two turned opposite directions heading to their own homes, their spirits higher than before.

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Who could Kelsi's mystery guy be? There is a chapter 2 to this so you can read that to find out. Reviews???


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the delay of this one. As I have said in my other story, when I was rereading this I found a lot of error and I didn't like how I wrote it so I changed it. I hope this is better than the original. I'm still not sure about this one and I have to be honest when I tell you guys that this is my least favorite of all the three.

Thanks for those who read this and for some who reviewed it. As you know, this is set during the second movie. :)

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Troy shot the ball and missed terribly for the third time in a row. Everytime something was bothering hi, he always resorts to basketball. Basketball is one of those things that he was really good at and could boost his morale up. Unfortunately, he always sucks at it when he's troubled and only makes his frustrations worse.

Giving up, he grabbed his shirt and jacket and headed towards the Lava Springs' main building. Quickly upon entering the double doors of the establishment, his ears were completely filled by music that he assumed came from the little fingers of his favorite composer.

He followed the soulful music to the practice room where he saw a scene he never thought was possible. Before him were the wildcats rehearsing for what he assumes were their number for the talent show with Ryan and Gabriella in the middle of them all.

Seeing Chad, Zeke, Jason and the others sing and dance to Kelsi's latest composition made Troy smile. How he wished he was there with them. It also reminded him of his earlier argument with Chad. He knew something changed about him; Gabriella had pointed it out to him already but chose to ignore it. But when Chad started to shout at him, he knew that this, this change was bigger than what he thought it was.

Hearing a click of heels approaching him, Troy hid to a secluded spot where he couldn't be seen by Sharpay. He was in mood to deal with her now.

Slipping to another hiding spot behind the blonde Drama Queen, Troy watched the wildcats file out of the practice room one by one. He took peek inside the almost deserted room and saw Ryan and Gabriella share a hug followed by the male Evans kissing Gabriella's hand.

His heart clenched at the scene. He wanted to kill Ryan right then and there but controlled himself. He knew that this will only make things worse for him and Gabriella and he didn't want to push her further away from him.

Troy watched as Gabriella made her way out of the practice room. He was about to follower her until he saw a smaller girl holding a music sheet appear from the same room. So instead of following Gabriella, he decided to follow Kelsi instead.

He wasn't surprised at all when he found the songwriter in the music room. Looking through the glass window, he saw the pianist hunched over the piano, her shoulders shaking. Instinct told him something was wrong, he entered the room and approached Kelsi from behind.

"Kelsi? Kels, what's wrong?" Troy asked making the composer face him. The tears in her eyes confirmed his suspicions.

"Troy! Nothing… uhm… did you want to rehears your song with Sharpay?" Kelsi answered trying to wipe away her tears.

"Kelsi, I know something is wrong. Please just tell me. I hate seeing you like this."

"I'm fine. Okay?"

"Not okay! I wouldn't stop asking until you tell me."

"Fine." She sighed. "Remember the guy I told you about?"

"Hmm… The guy behind _What I've Been Looking For _and the whole musical? Yeah. What about him?"

"Well, I think he likes this girl and she's my friend. I don't know if she likes him back or what because she is kind of taken in a way but she and her _friend_ are having problems and I don't know what to do. I mean, I don't want him to get hurt but then I don't want o interfere with them and-"Kelsi rambled endlessly.

"Okay, Kels, I get it. Relax." Troy calmed her down. "First things first, why didn't you tell me it was Ryan? He totally likes you!"

"Wait? Really?"

"Well, based on what I see, yeah he does."

"What do you mean?"

"He is really nice to you, opens the door for you and everything. And he never forgets to compliment you about your work."

"He's just a gentleman. He does that to all the girls. And even you do that to me, but that doesn't mean you like me that way."

"I know. But I don't stare at you longer that I should. And if I remember correctly, you didn't need my help to get hired here. You don't think Ryan's parents owning this place had anything to do with it"

"Oh… But what about Gabriella?"

"You said it yourself, he's a gentleman. He treats every girl that way." He found his own words settle the issue of Gabriella and Ryan in his head.

"Oh… Okay. I was just wondering how did you figure out that it was Ryan?"

"That's easy. I was in the story you just told me. I'm the _friend _of your friend."

"Oh, yeah" was her blushing reply. "Speaking of which, how's that going?"

"Me and Gabby? " Kelsi nodded. "I still haven't talked to her since the baseball game incident. I was going to talk to her after you guys rehearsed then I realized that I didn't know what to say to her. Then I saw you I thought maybe you could help me again like before."

"Okay, here's the thing, Gabriella doesn't hate you and so does Chad and the other wildcats. They're just disappointed. You were the one who got them these jobs here and they were looking forward to spending time with you. They didn't accept the job because of the money; they accepted it so that we can all spend summer together. The money was just a sweet bonus."

"I didn't ask for the golf job, Fulton offered it. And I didn't ask for all this things to happen they just did and I don't want to lose this chance."

"I know Troy. I'm not telling you to quit that job. What I was trying to say was you should you're your promises. You promised Chad, Zeke and Jason that you'll play basketball with them before the baseball game but you didn't. You promised the wildcats that you play in the baseball game but you didn't. You promised Gabriella about dates but you were either late or you didn't show up at all. You promised her that this summer was just about spending time together. She already told you that this is special for her and you disappoint her time and time again. College is an important thing Troy but there are also other important things in life."

Troy nodded in agreement. He knew that everything that Kelsi said was true and he knew them already. He just needed someone to tell him about it.

Troy sent his signature smiles to the composer. "Thanks Kels. Once again, you saved my life."

"No problem." Kelsi returned his smile. "Now do us both a favor and win Gabriella's heart back before Ryan starts to fall for her."

Troy chucked. "Will do! But Kels, I think it will also help if you stopped being so close to Jason."

"What does that mean?" Kelsi asked, obviously confused.

"Oh, some people may get the wrong impression. Well, got to go. See you later Kels!"

"Later…" she replied, still trying to figure out what Troy just told her.

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The last part was just a random thing that came to me. Haha… Reviews??? Hope I can post the last one tomorrow. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Hey there! I was hoping to post this final chapter sooner but then a lot of things came up and I wasn't able to do so. I'm busy this whole month with my classes and stuff and this is the only time I could type this so I'm really sorry to those who are actually reading this and waiting for my update.

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Kelsi Nielsen stood in front of the Bolton residence contemplating if she made the right decision of coming there. She learned a couple of awful news these past few days and needed to talk to someone about it. She could have consulted her 3 girl friends but her instincts told her to go to Troy.

Not giving it another thought, Kelsi rang the doorbell and waited patiently for the door to be answered. It was Mrs. Bolton who greeted her.

"Good evening Mrs. Bolton. Is Troy around?" she asked the older woman politely.

Mrs. Bolton smiled brilliantly at her and urged her to come in. "Your timing couldn't be better. I think he and Gabriella has a misunderstanding. He went straight to his tree house after arriving from school. I think he needs a good friend to talk to."

"I will, ma'am. " Kelsi replied.

"Thank you dear."

Kelsi nodded before heading to the Bolton's backyard.

"Troy?" she asked out loud as she reached the only tree in the backyard.

"Playmaker? Is that you?" a voice asked from above.

"Yeah. Wanna talk?" she shouted once again.

"Sure! Come up!" he answered.

"I thought you tree house was exclusive for family, boys and girlfriends." She smiled up on him remembering the story Gabriella told her earlier that year.

"You're like my little sister or something so that counts. Just come up!" he demanded.

"Fine." Kelsi went around the tree. "How do I climb this thing?"

Troy descended the tree and helped Kelsi climb it. As soon as they reached the tree house, they settled on one side of the structure which had beautiful view of the neighborhood.

"So, what happened?" Kelsi broke the silence.

"Nothing." He said, his eyes never leaving the view.

"Oh come on Troy! I know something is up and you seemed lost all day. Your mom even noticed it. Did you and Gabriella have a fight?"

"No… But something is wrong and it is about Gabriella."

"What is it?"

"You know that Gabriella is already accepted in Stanford right?"

Kelsi nodded her head and urged Troy to continue.

"Well, apparently there is something called an honor's program where the students get to spend time at campus. "

"Oh yeah, I think I heard Taylor and Gabby talking about that during one lunch. From what I heard its really prestigious and only the best get in. Are you telling me got accepted?"

Troy nodded.

"That's awesome news! So what's the problem?"

"The problem is she's going to have to leave early. She's going to miss the rest of the school year. She's going to miss the musical, prom and even graduation."

"Really? Did she say that? I mean, have the two of you talked about this?"

"No. She has never mentioned this program to me."

Kelsi tilted her head side wards "I don't get it. If she hasn't told you about the program, then how did you find out she was accepted?"

"Sharpay told me."

The composer let out a frustrated sigh. _Why does everything bad always lead up to her _she thought.

"Well Mr. Bolton, I suggest you talk to Gabriella first before you assume things further. If she did get accepted to the program, then great, you're not going to stop her if she decides to go right?"

"Of course not, I know this is a big thing for her and her future and I don't want to get in the way of that. I just that, I can't believe she's leaving so soon."

"I know, but we all have to part ways sooner or later. She's just going sooner. Besides, even if she does go to Stanford early, she might miss the musical but she could still go to prom and graduation."

"Yeah, I guess so." Troy smiled the first time that evening. "Thanks Kelsi! Once again you have saved me from the pit of endless misery."

"I think I'm rubbing up on you." Kelsi smiled at his words. "And you're much welcome Mr. Bolton. What are friends for right?"

Troy looked at the playwright and smiled "Hey! Speaking of prom, I heard you're going with Ryan. Any truth to that playmaker?"

Kelsi nodded as a response but her facial expression dropped at the same time. This didn't pass without Troy noticing it. "Did I say something wrong?"

She didn't reply.

Troy was worried. For more than 1 year that he had known the composer, he knew that she opted not to talk when something was bothering her especially if the cause of her distress was the topic. "Did something happen between you and Ryan? Because if he hurt you I going to call Chad right now and we're going to his house and beat the crap out of him."

"Please don't do that." She whispered.

"Only if you tell me what happened."

"Okay… it was two days ago when we were rehearsing your number with Gabriella. It was during the break and I went backstage to talk to Ryan about how we could improve the number. Then I saw him talking to Sharpay and I know I shouldn't have listened but I did. I heard him tell her about us going to prom together. Then Sharpay interrupts him and says something on the line of _keep your friends close and your enemies closer._ After hearing that, I got really confused with the situation and when I'm confused, I panic, so I went to music room and locked myself there."

"Oh… so that's why you suddenly went missing and we were forced to work on lines the rest of the rehearsal. Did you confront Ryan about this?"

"Yeah…"

"What did he say?"

"Well, I asked his why he asked me to prom and he said that Sharpay told him to do so."

Troy's urge to kill Ryan was intensifying. But he kept himself in check, Kelsi already told him not to physically incapacitate the male Evans. "Did he tell you why Sharpay wanted him to ask you to prom?

Kelsi shook her head. "No. Actually, he tried to explain himself after what he told me but I didn't listen to him. I was really hurt with what he said."

Troy bit the side of his cheeks, thinking of the right words to say. "You know Kels, I really don't know Ryan that much. I mean, we only started hanging out after all that drama during the summer. But what I do know about him is that he really likes you, a lot. I know that he wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt you. I really think you should give him a chance to explain himself. Hear him out and then decide if what he's telling you is the truth and if you could forgive him for what he did."

Kelsi smiled up on Troy. "Thanks Troy. I think I'll take your word for it and talk to him tomorrow. "

Troy smiled back. "Good! And you're welcome. It's the least I can do for all those time you were by my side this past year. I don't think I could have survived without you and your guidance."

The two teens looked at each other and simultaneously turned their attention back to the beautiful view before them. The moment was quiet, peaceful, oh-so beautiful… and was ruined by the annoying ring of Kelsi's phone.

"Sorry." She addressed towards Troy before answering her phone. "Hello?... I'm over at Troy's… We were just talking about the musical and other school stuff… Yeah… Okay, I'll be right home."

Kelsi turned back to Troy. "My mom, she wants me to go home."

"Can I give you a ride?" Troy asked helping Kelsi get down from the tree.

"In your truck? No thanks Troy. I would much rather walks than ride that monstrosity." Kelsi responded with a smirk.

Troy made a shocked face. "That hurts, Nielsen! And here I am thinking that you're my friend. I am obviously mistaken." His response was dripping with sarcasm.

"Fine…" Kelsi sigh as she boarded Troy's rusting truck. "I just hope we reach my house before it stops running, again."

"You and me both." Troy replied as he started his truck and started driving towards the direction of her house.

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I'm done. Again, I'm really sorry for taking so long. I already finished this more than a month ago and I'm just really busy. This is the last chapter and I will really appreciate it if you tell me what you think. I'll be coming back with my Ryelsi fics next time I post so watch out for that. :)


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